Running for the first time

[Bobbyste]

I've done the first session of 5K and it has been really hard... I wonder if I will be able to do the next session

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome to the forum and well done on getting started.

You will be fine......because next time you will go much slower, so that you can speak aloud clear ungasping sentences as you go.

This guide to the plan is essential reading healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

and includes advice on minimising impact, stretching after every run, hydration and strengthening exercises, all of which will help.

Enjoy your journey.

[Goldilocks82 Graduate]

It will be no problem at all. Just slow it down! Thats all there is to it! Good luck!

[sparky66 Graduate]

You done the first one, yes it's hard..but don't doubt yourself..you can do it 🙏🏁

[Beastie_MCCXIX Graduate]

You are 100% correct.... 100% it's hard - 100% you can do it. Now you have to convince your mind!! You will be advised 100,000,000's keep it slow. Pace can be the slayer of runs!

[SassyF Graduate]

The first run is the worst! Fact. (Well in my opinion anyway)

Well done on getting started, as everyone else has said slow it down... sometimes on the early days I was just shuffling in some form of forward movement that was probably slower than I could walk.... but I, and others have found that you evolve into your own style of running. It’ll happen, just keep being determined to succeed and you will! 😎

[Oilandwater Graduate]

The first run is such a tough one, but it’s amazing how fast the body adjusts.

Can’t wait to hear about your future runs, you will do great.

Just 6 weeks ago I was exactly the same. Struggling with the minute runs.

I’m now on week 7 completing 25 minute runs. I am not a natural runner. Never have been even in my super sporty netball/spinning days, plus I’m about 3 stone over my ideal weight.

My ability to progress to this level is 100% based on trusting the program, not on any past ability/running fitness.

Go into each run knowing you are prepared for it. No matter how hard in seems on paper. You can do it ♥️

[Magellan Graduate]

It can be hard to run slowly. Something in your brain can simply refuse to accept that it’s possible to be running at anything but a pace that feels like a great effort. A couple of years ago I would have rolled my eyes if anyone had told me they couldn’t run slowly, I’d have thought it a humblebrag, like oh I’m soooo fast. But it’s true.

I wasn’t a fast runner during my c25k (far from it, I reckon I was slower than about 80% of everyone who does the programme) but I genuinely found it hard to run as slowly as I should have run. I couldn’t do the ‘hold a conversation’ pace I was meant to do, and it wasn’t a problem at first, I just got knackered, but as the runs got longer it was seriously making it likely I would give up.

Some kind soul here suggested I Google ‘YouTube Japanese slow jogging.’ That really helped.

It might help also to know that people who do ‘proper’ running, as in they’ve finished c25k and run for fun, whether it’s 5k or half marathons or whatever, do deliberately slow running. Maybe one run in three or one in six might be a speed run that leaves us knackered, and the rest are nice gentle runs to build ourselves up without injury or muscle fatigue.

Good luck slowing down, and do stick with it. It gets easier the more you do it, and even when the runs get longer later in the programme it’s such a well-designed programme that you’ll be coping fine. As long as you stay nice and slow 😀.

[Sammie137]

Keep at it i felt the same but now ive been able to push through and complete week 2, ive even started look at 5k runs to complete in the future

[Getnoffmycouch Graduate]

Hope you have decided with all this fantastic advice to keep pushing through it. Like many that have commented so far, I too, have never been a runner. From the beginning it IS very challenging because it’s something different for us and our bodies have to adapt to change. I had a few times that I couldn’t complete a run, particularly when the times were adjusted. It’s ✅ ok.

Just keep your runs (jogs) as slow as possible and don’t push yourself too hard! This is how you will build endurance and you too will be surprised that you CAN do it. I am now on WEEK 6/Run 2. And I remember being in your spot thinking “ I will never make it that far to run foe that long!” and I was wrong.

Stick with the program and it will see you through. Best wishes and don’t give up!❤️